Underlining the need to curb “VIP culture”, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Monday asked his ministers to keep their security personnel at the bare minimum.
He pointed out to them that he had already pruned his own security. Chairing a meeting of the Council of Ministers at the Chief Minister's Office, Channi said that this initiative will not only be instrumental in deployment of extra security personnel judiciously but also save the general public from unnecessary inconvenience in this regard, an official statement said.
During the cabinet meeting, Channi placed on record deep appreciation to former chief minister Amarinder Singh and those who were part of the latter''s Cabinet “for implementation of pro-people initiatives and overall development works in the state”, it said.
Emphasizing the need to prepare a comprehensive roadmap, the chief minister asked all administrative secretaries and head of departments to prepare an action plan to implement their development projects and welfare schemes in a time-bound and holistic manner.
Assuring a clean, transparent, fair, just and efficient administration to the people, Channi asked ministers to perform to the best of their capacities and capabilities.
He said that now they will have to work overtime so as to come up to the expectations of the people in delivering good governance to them to their satisfaction.
Channi urged all of them to work zealously with utmost sincerity, honesty and commitment to boost the image of the government and meet the aspirations of the people particularly at the grass roots.
In order to provide easy access to elected representatives like sarpanches, municipal councillors, it was also decided to issue entry cards from either the office of deputy commissioners or Sub Divisional Magistrate, the statement said.
Holders of such cards will be allowed hassle free entry in state government offices and Civil Secretariats in Chandigarh, it said.
While Channi along with two deputy chief ministers took oath a week ago, the 15 other members of his Council of Ministers, took oath on Sunday and this was the first meeting of the full-fledged cabinet.
The Congress had recently picked Channi as the leader of the state''s Congress Legislative Party. He was sworn in as the chief minister on Monday last.
Amarinder Singh had resigned as chief minister over a week ago, after being locked in a bitter power tussle with Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu.
